Washington Post: Ted Kennedy "Infuriated" by Clintons

Noted Coroner Cyril Wecht on Trial

Medical Equipment from JFK Murder Moved to Kansas

Kennedy Endorsements of Barack Obama

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy Endorse Barack Obama at "Stand for Change" Rally in Washington, DC.

Caroline Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama - Video

At an event at American University, the Kennedys speak of the leadership and character of Barack Obama, their choice for President of the United States.

Camelot Crowns Obama for 'the Future'

Kennedys Describe Obama as an Heir to the JFK Legacy

By NITYA VENKATARAMAN
Jan. 29, 2008

Heading into a 22-state, delegate-rich Super Tuesday showdown Feb. 5, Sen. Barack Obama got a boost from an iconic American family, earning the highly sought Kennedy anointment Monday afternoon at an American University rally.

Video

Kennedy: 'I Feel Change in the Air'

In an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and his niece Caroline Kennedy placed a Camelot crown on the Illinois senator, describing him as an heir to the legacy of the late John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy said he was "always going to support the candidate that was going to inspire me and I thought would inspire the Democratic Party."

Caroline Endorses Obama

January 27, 2008 Op-Ed Contributor A President Like My Father By CAROLINE KENNEDY OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama. My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals. Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible. We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960. Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual. Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process. I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility. Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning. I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved. I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans. Caroline Kennedy is the author of “A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love.”

"American Idealist" Profiles Founder of JFK's Peace Corps; Airs on PBS Jan.21

Click on the following link for a list of air dates:

http://www.americanidealistmovie.org/downloads/American%20Idealist.pdf

Family Supports Renaming of Triborough Bridge for RFK

Bush Urged to Speed Up Declassification

The "Public Interest DeClassification Board" (PIDB) appointed by President Bush and the Congress published its report today. The Board urged the government to move more quickly to release and declassify files. The panel consists of five members appointed by the President and four by the Congress. With the advent of electronic classified information, the problem has become even worse according to the PIDB. With respect to electronic records, the PIDB observed that government agencies will be unable to meet the deadline of reviewing all electronic records by 2011. The Board identified fifteen specific areas of concern and offered detailed recommendations. While the Board praised government efforts in recent years, it also found fault in a number of areas. One section of the report shows just how daunting the task of reviewing classified material can be:

"... by 1995, a mountain of unreviewed classified
documents —estimated at that time to be nearly 700 million
pages —had accumulated at the National Archives with no
prospect, given the level of resources then available, of ever
being reviewed. To make matters worse, with each passing year
the mountain was growing, and many millions more pages of
such records were held by the agencies as well. To resolve this
situation, Executive Order 12958 (hereinafter, “the Order”)
introduced the concept of “automatic declassification,”
whereby all classified records deemed to be “permanently
valuable records of the Government”—those required to be
legally transferred by agencies or Presidents and Vice
Presidents to the National Archives, including its Presidential
libraries—would be presumed declassified when they reached
25 years of age, unless the agency that originated them acted to
exempt them pursuant to the provisions of the Order."

One significant problem the Board pointed out is that government agencies lack a common agreement on what are to be considered "historically significant" records. The executive order mentioned above was signed by President Clinton in 1995. As noted above it requires that files should be automatically declassified when they are 25 years old. However, various media have commented on the resistance to Clinton's order in the intelligence agencies. Clinton's order did not mean the records would be automatically available as they would still require review; a process that can take years. Merely hiring new personnel to conduct such reviews has taken twelve years. The PIDB itself was an example of a sluggish government approach as it was created by Congress in 2000, but was not given any funds until 2005, so it did not meet and begin its work until 2006. The Board will remain in existence to monitor compliance with its recommendations until 2012. Among other recommendations of this panel are the establishment of a single declassification center that would create guidelines which would apply to all agencies. It also called for all presidential records to be placed in a central location until such time as they could be declassified and released. The Board also recommended that a system be developed to identify "historically significant" files so they could be reviewed and released with greater priority.
The report appears to be silent on a controversy which became public in February of 2006 when it was discovered that the CIA and other agencies were engaged in a covert operation at the National Archives to "re-classify" material that had been previously released and in many instances widely published. Beginning in 1999, the operation continued for over seven years before it was exposed. Over 55,000 pages of documents had been removed from public access at the National Archives by CIA and employees of other agencies operating with impunity at the Archives due to a secret agreement concluded in 1999 with the National Archives. Some of the files taken back were innocuous, and some were apparently seized because they detailed previous activities of the CIA which were considered embarassing. Concern was expressed at the time that some JFK assassination files had fallen victim to this covert operation. Weinstein was unable to identify specific records that had been "reclassified", and referred inquirers to the various agencies involved. Mr. Weinstein was so embarassed himself by the discovery of this operation that he pledged never to allow it to happen again. He asked the PIDB to review the incident, but it is not mentioned in the report issued today. The White House offered no immediate comment on the findings.

T.

Waldron and Hartmann to Publish New Book on JFK Murder

The authors of "Ultimate Sacrifice" will publish a new book in May 2008 on the murder of John F. Kennedy. Called "Legacy of Secrecy; The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination" the book will attempt to go beyond their previous one to show how Robert F. Kennedy continued to investigate his brother's death, even as Mafia dons conspired to hide the truth. "Ultimate Sacrifice" put forth the theory that JFK was attempting to orchestrate a coup in Cuba at the time of his death which is what necessitated an extensive government cover up of the real facts of the President's murder. "Legacy of Secrecy" claims to base some startling revelations on interviews with 24 of Robert Kennedy's associates as well as "newly declassified government files."

This new book promises to reveal:

• That the FBI obtained a confession from Carlos Marcello of his role in the assassination.
  
  
• FBI files of meetings between New Orleans mafia boss Carlos Marcello, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.
  
  
• Some U.S. officials engaged in a cover-up for legitimate reasons, while others hid the CIA/Mafia attempts to assassinate Castro.

• Contacts between James Earl Ray, Marcello, and a white supremacist who was involved in the president's murder as well as Martin Luther King's.
  
  
• The last mysteries of Watergate and the roles of Richard Helms and E. Howard Hunt in the break-in; why they recruited Cuban exiles for the job and just what Richard Nixon sought to find.

Published by Counterpoint Press. Release date of May 28, 2008.

Bush Signs FOIA Reform, Bill Benefits Bloggers